Prescription drugs, over-the-counter formulas, vitamins, herbal remedies, medicinal supplements and the like (collectively, “medications”) play an ever-increasing role in the daily lives of many people, especially the elderly population. As the pharmaceutical industry evolves, medications are increasingly essential to improving the quality of life for many individuals. Additionally, in many instances, medications lengthen and improve lives, and people depend on these medications for their continued survival. For example, it is not uncommon for a senior citizen to have a blood pressure medication, take at least one vitamin supplement, and resort to various herbal alternatives. As people grow older and their schedules become fraught with doctor visits, etc., the task of organizing these and other medications often becomes burdensome, confusing, and, in particular instances, overwhelming.
The benefits of these various medications are not only received by the elderly population. At one time or another, most people require some medication such as aspirin to fight a headache, or a cold tablet to ward off a cold. The multitude of similar appearing bottles are easily misplaced and often confused.
It would be advantageous, therefore, to have a bottle retainer that enables an individual to more easily manage these and other medications.
There have been various prior art attempts to help an individual organize their various medications. Rather than include the prescription bottle as part of the solution, most prior art attempts have required an individual to remove the tablets from the pill container and sort their various medications by placing them in containers corresponding to the day or date prescribed. While medication sorters and organizers of this type are beneficial, taking medication from a container and inserting it into another is time-consuming. Additionally, liquid and powder based solutions are not conducive to such a technique. Moreover, this can be dangerous. The bottles themselves, in conjunction with the labels attached thereto, generally contain very important information relating to dosage instructions, the prescribing doctor and hospital, the pharmacy information, important interactions with other drugs, and instructions in case of an emergency. The prior art attempt circumvents this important information and because the patient is not required to handle the bottle on a repeated basis they may accidentally lose the bottle, or, even, throw it out. Because the user removes the pill from its original packaging to place it into the pill sorter, medications are often confused, and the dosage instructions are more easily ignored. To alleviate the disadvantages of the prior art, it would be more beneficial, therefore, to generally have the package nearby, and more readily accessible.
There still exists little to no art that offers convenient storage for the bottles and residual pills. Individuals could secure medications, in their original container, within a bottler retainer. This would allow an individual to keep the containers within view and in an organized fashion thereby allowing the individual to be reminded of the important necessity to take their medication. Additionally, the holder could ensure medications are kept in a proper storage environment away from pets, children, and others. The present invention was developed in light of these and other drawbacks.